Justice Never Sleeps!
by Sumire06
Summary: Studying to be a lawyer takes a lot of energy, apparently. [human!stuck Karkat and Terezi; don't like that AU, then don't read; rated T only because of the cursing]


**[Author comments: I enjoy homestuck. And one of my all-time favorite ships is Karkat and Terezi. I could go on for hours about them, whether because of their perfection to how I feel they're the closest I've seen to a real life couple and more. I just- I have a ton of feels for these two together, and I like to write them in a human AU setting the most. Hence this drabble. Enjoy~]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Karkat Vantas, Terezi Pyrope or homestuck. They are all the sole property of Andrew Hussie, the creator. Hell, I don't even really own the human AU; just my human verse headcanons for them. But I do own the plot of this drabble.**

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He knew it was a new semester when she came home more tired than usual. Terezi was going for a law degree- unsure if she was going to be a lawyer or a judge, though- and spent many hours every night staying up late to do homework she had been assigned in her classes. Karkat himself was in for psychiatry as he liked to think he could help others with their problems- love or otherwise- even if he couldn't figure out his own. But his workload wasn't as bad as hers. Or, he thought so, anyway.

But whenever a new semester began, the redhead always seemed so exhausted when she came back to the apartment. Of course, being her, she denied such a claim and would go on a rant befitting her about how she simply could not be tired for various reasons that changed each time; eventually, Karkat learned that she would easily shut up if he either kissed her or clapped a hand over her mouth.

Second year of college, second semester was no different. Karkat was already home, laying on the couch and reading one of his trashy romance novels, when the door rattled open and Terezi came in, her usual enthusiasm gone as he expected at this point. She heaved a heavy breath, shutting the door behind her as she wordlessly made her way into the kitchen, where she always went to get some of her work done before dinner. Karkat raised himself off the couch, watching her silently.

"What, no hello for the boyfriend?" he called out, half joking but sounding completely serious. The only response he got from Terezi was a grunt and a middle finger in his direction. He snorted and rolled his dark eyes, getting up from the couch now and making a beeline toward the kitchen to at least make her a snack. "Professor giving shit tons of work again?" he asked, bending at a cupboard to grab a pan so he could make them grilled cheese sandwiches. Again, Terezi just grunted, pages flipping coming from her side of the kitchen.

"Wow, someone's more in a bad mood than fucking usual," the Cancer commented, glancing behind his shoulder to the woman at the table, who was running her fingertips over the braille of her specially made text book and holding up her head with a hand in her hair. "Maybe you should take a nap or some shit, Terezi. You look like you're gonna fall asleep any second."

"I'm fine. 'Sides, I got a paper due next week and I barely had any time today to start it," she told him, her normal energy lacking in her bland and soft voice.

"Already? Fuck, that class is god damn insane, making you guys do that much work in such short time," Karkat said with a scowl. He heard Terezi shake her head, sighing softly.

"No, it's okay..." she murmured and then silence fell between the two; the only sounds being Terezi page flipping and the soft sizzling of the pan as Karkat made the food. But it was a comfortable silence; at least they weren't fighting like they usually did, and neither knew nothing serious was wrong. It was a silence they could take easily without thinking something was troubling them.

A few minutes later, just as Karkat was cutting the toasted sandwiches on plates, Terezi groaned in annoyance under her breath. "Fuck, my eyes hurt," she mumbled irritably. Karkat couldn't help but snort dryly at that.

"You don't even fucking _use_ your eyes, Pyrope. You're _blind_; how can they hurt?" he asked, though it was more rhetorical than anything. He turned to the table just in time to see her stick her tongue at him while rubbing her eyes, red shades pushed up to her forehead.

"Smartass, aren't yah?" she retorted just as dryly; she pushed her textbook toward the middle of the table as the male placed her food next to her and sat across from her with his own food. "Here, read for me, would you? I just need a little bit more to write before I can put it away for tonight."

"Are you stupid? I can't fucking read braille. What else did that damn birth of yours take, common sense? I don't understand the weird little raised dots like you-"

"It has actual writing underneath the braille, Karkat," Terezi piped up, reaching over and tapping the page; he glanced down and indeed there it was, printed word below the braille dots on the paper. Karkat immediately fell silent, cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

"Oh," he mumbled, sighing heavily. "Alright, fine Whatever. What part? From the beginning or something?"

"Yeah. Read slowly, too, okay?" she told him, picking up her pen and feeling over her looseleaf to see where the indents from her previous writing was so she could keep writing without overlapping her previous work. Nodding, Karkat raised the book onto the table and sighed again before reading the page aloud for her.

"'_Subdivision (b). The first sentence is the third sentence of Rule 43(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure virtually verbatim_'," he started, tone bland and flat, finding the law writing boring and annoying. How Terezi could handle listening to shit like this every day in class was beyond him. But he went on regardless, resting his chin on his hand and frowning. "_'Its purpose is to reproduce for an appellate court, insofar as possible, a true reflection of what occurred in the trial court_'..."

Karkat trailed off there, the sound of Terezi's pen scratching on the paper no longer in the air making him pause and look over the top of the textbook. Only to see her slouched over the table, arms folded and her head buried between them, pen still in her hand. Karkat sighed softly, not wanting to wake her up, and closed the book quietly, laying it down as he stood. Going over to her side, the man carefully and slowly slipped the pen out of her hand and managed to get the paper out from under her arms, putting it far from her in case she started drooling- which she did sometimes. With a gentle smile at how peaceful and at ease his girlfriend looked, Karkat grabbed the blanket from the couch and draped it over her shoulders, listening to her softly moan in her sleep.

Chuckling under his breath, Karkat pressed a kiss to the top of her head and turned off the kitchen light, going into the living room and settling back on the couch, keeping only the table lamp on so he could read without disturbing the woman.


End file.
